Hi, I never use ear plugs. They do not fit into my ears - and the sound is not good (at least for me).
For home listening I use two "open" headphones: AKG K 501 & K 601 (very patriotic: AKG is build in my home country! ). The K 501 is comparable in quality with Sennheiser HD 650 or Beyerdynamic DT 880, or the respective newer models. On the road I use a Sennheiser PXC300 (mostly in airplanes, as I have an international job), also Bose and other have noise canceling headphones.
If you prefer ear plugs then you should explore something like Shure earbuds (look here).
I would always suggest to invest some money in a better headphone: The high-end MD player demand a high-end reproduction of the sound via good headphones...
With kind regards
Joe