Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I'm looking for a pair of quality headphones that aren't seemingly made of glass. I'm an avid BMXer which causes me to frequently bash on any type of technology that joins me for my daily riding. I've been through the higher quality headsets in the Skullcandy line as these are supposed to be built for "abuse," which is laughable. I cant wear earbuds or canal buds, as my large ears seem to have a repelling property upon anything that sits in them. Wired or Bluetooth doesn't really matter, but I need something that can hold up to taking a few hits every now and again. I'm trying to keep 'em under $150. Thanks!"
the upside is that i think this already exists.
just do a search for MP3 Surround Armin Van Buuren. and it's backwards compatible with MP3 players (just the 2.0 audio option).
for home use, though, i see no reason not to use the also free Nero Digital Audio AAC Codec (oddly named as it's just an encoder). it'll take 24bit 48kHz 5.1 WAVs.
MP3 Surround isn't really the same as MPEG Surround and could refer to a variety of different technologies, including the stillborn standard created for DVD and ATSC that was beat out, both times, by Dolby Digital. At one point "MPEG Multichannel" (MP3 Surround) was the standard audio system for European DVDs, causing a consumer revolt because of perceived poor quality compared to Dolby Digital, and very poor support by consumer receiver models.
MPEG Multichannel is, as you say, backwards compatible, but it's long in the tooth. MPEG Surround is a more interesting technology and can use better base codecs than MP3, like AAC - which is what Fraunhofer is encouraging. But it's not in the running for movie audio distribution, and nobody cares about surround for music.