Method and apparatus for adaptively establishing a sampling phase for decision-feedback equalization

Methods and apparatus are provided for adaptively establishing the optimal sampling phase offset for a DFE operation. According to one aspect of the invention, one or more values in an amplitude domain are converted into a time domain, for example, using a phase detector, based on phase information to provide said sampling phase. The values in the amplitude domain optionally comprise one or more of detected DFE data, ŷ(n) and a sign of an error term for detected DFE data. The sampling phase can establish the phase of an independent clock or an offset to a second clock, such as a clock recovered from a received signal by a clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit.