That's probably someone lead down the wrong path. If they had talked to different people, they might have ended up being music producers. Instead they wasted a ton of money on things they didn't need, or weren't the right things for whatever kind of production is right for them.
A pair of half decent headphones isn't a bad purchase for anyone though. As long as you don't buy some of the $150 crap that claims to be good these days. $40 over the ear headphones are fine. If you get them from china, $20 ones will do you well, if they got good reviews.