What's in a name or more to the point a set of three initial capital letters? Quite a lot as it happens. As noted in these pages back in 2017 MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is probably the future as we see it in terms of audio sound.

When you do come across it on a record that is really good anyway the extra quality in terms of bright organic and hugely detailed sound (where MQA comes into its own) makes the derivable pleasure even more pronounced.

To be honest I have not come across many brand new non classic albums using this still pretty new audio technology this year, it is still state of the art and not everyone chooses to access it. What Hi-Fi gloss MQA neatly as: ''a method of digitally storing recorded music as a file that’s small and convenient enough to download, or even stream, without the sonic sacrifices traditionally associated with compressed files. MQA claims its tracks use a similar bandwidth to that required for CD-quality streams. So if you’re able to stream Tidal’s hi-fi tier with relative ease then the new Tidal Masters tier using MQA shouldn’t be a problem.''

Blicher Hemmer Gadd used MQA on Get That Motor Runnin’ another sign of their attention to detail in terms of post-production that enhanced an incredible outfit's artistry and which is now in full flower.

On the MQA site these comments are interesting, the band going the audiophile route via Brinkmann Audio. ''The MQA master files are the authenticated source for the following: the album tracks streaming on TIDAL Masters; the MQA-CD which plays back on any CD player; and, in the production of the vinyl version, these files were directly fed through the Brinkmann Nyquist Mk II streaming DAC into the cutting machine.'' Related ///// more reading: Michael Blicher interview.