Well, based on the rave reviews from the good people over at Head-Fi, I just broke the bank and ordered a set of Etymotic EP-4P earphones. (See www.etymotic.com for more info.) At $269 for in-ear headphones they had better sound as incredable as high-end home speakers, but they do come with a 30 day money back guarantee just in case.

The Etymotic phones are similar to the Sony's metioned above, except they seal more tightly down deeper in the ear canal. They claim 20dB of isolation which means they should block out as much noise as those regular industrial hearing plugs. You should hear pretty much nothing but your music while they're in your ear. This allows you to save your hearing since you won't need to turn the volume up so loud in order to compensate for external noises. They say you can use them on an airplane and it's almost like listening to your music in an otherwise quiet room!

Also, the 'P' in the model means they're designed to be ultra efficent for use with portables. So hopefully they should sound good with the low outputs of the empeg and RioVolt.

Anyway, I should have them in a couple days. I can't wait to hear what they sound like. I've already heard the Sony's mentioned here and while they do sound pretty good, they seem to have kind of exagerated treble and bass that I think I'd find fatiguing after awhile. Supposedly the Etymotic is much more neutral sounding, which is what I'm looking for. Over at Head-Fi they describe a mod you can make to the Sony's that helps reduce the problem though. What a great site! If anyone has any interest in headphones, Head-Fi is a great resource.