The Creative Ep-630's are noise isolation buds................they are not at all like the el-cheapo buds that come with most Ipods.

They have 3 different sized soft rubber cups that are easily changed to the size that works best for you. With the proper size cups, they seal exceptionally well to keep the outside noise down, and that also improves the bass response tremendously.

When I said the sound quality compared favorably with the higher priced headphones, I was not kidding and that is due to the noise canceling and bass response from the exceptional seal you get from the cups.

I bought a pair of Logitech Ultimate Ears 200 for about $30 two days ago to use in my woodworking shop. I bought them on Amazon with free 5 day shipping. They are noise isolating earphones as opposed to noise canceling. They reduce outside noise by 26dB, sound decent, and are pretty comfortable. They do a good job of reducing outside noise. They come with 5 different sizes of ear inserts for a good fit. Between songs, I noticed that I had forgotten to turn the dust collector off, which is annoyingly loud without the ear phones.

http://ultimateears.com/en-us/products/200

Basically if a set of headphones is closed back with no vent porting it will probably do some isolation.
Drums are very loud when played full out and you stand a chance of damaging your hearing by turning up non isolating cans to loud. Your hearing is worth a lot more than $30 , so I would go for a full isolating type.
Those Leafblowers models are certainly certified to do the job. Then you can put just about anything in there I guess. I'm even thinking you could remove the speakers from a damaged set of phones ( I got lots of those) and somehow mount them inside the hardware store cans. ( silicone?) Hmmm..$14.00 cool.

Another thing to remember is it is recommended you never use any type of in ear buds with out protection circuits ( re = compressor) - in line with them. They too can damage your hearing if misused.

I am not a drummer. But I wanted earbuds so that I can listen to my iPod at the gym where they are playing fairly loud background music.
The problem is that my ear canal is not that wide and not really straight. I couldn't really get the earbuds to stay in place, and the acoustic isolation was not that good. A few weeks ago, I found these things: Comply TX-400 Series Foam Tips (small). These foam tips (similar to ear plugs) have solved my problem. The acoustic isolation with my V-Moda earbuds is now quite good.

Wilko

These are great on the cheap: http://www.itrstudio.com/moreme.html

Ha I looked at that web site and if you scroll down you will see  he is also recommending the ear buds inside the leafblower cans, so looks like a good idea for drummers. Under $30.

1 More tripple drivers are the eabruds specially made for drummers. Or you can check audio technica M50x as well. Sennheiser urbanite would be a great choice. So any one of the above mentioned will never disappoint your son.

Uh, Charles,, this thread is 6 years ago,,, the OP's son has a family now!