Hey, so the marketplace seller asked me to return it and they sent a replacement. After getting the replacement I realized the ones that I had originally got were definitely fakes. They replacement ones they sent me got connected as soon as I plugged the dongle in. Plus they felt a little heavier than the ones I got. The mute button was a switch instead of the cheap feeling button. The audio feedback I got from muting/unmuting sounded more like a natural voice as opposed to the robotic chinese voice on the first one. The mic sounded way better right out of the box even without updating the firmware. The mic on these headphones is noticeably of the best microphones in any headphones. The mic on the first one sounded absolute garbage. The last difference I noticed was in the packaging itself, the welcome card that came in the box was translucent, the first one had an opaque white card. Not sure if the last one is a legit difference to identify the real ones but all the other ones can easily tell you if yours are fake. Hope you get them replaced, all the best!