A system and machine-implemented method are described for communicating with a plurality of distributed-input-distributed-output (DIDO) clients. For example, a method according to one embodiment comprises: determining channel state information (CSI) defining a channel state between each of a first plurality of DIDO antennas and each of the DIDO clients; using the CSI to determine distributed-input-distributed-output (DIDO) precoding weights for each of the channels between each of the first plurality of DIDO antennas and the antennas of each of the DIDO clients; using the CSI and DIDO precoding weights to determine link quality metrics defining link quality between each of the first plurality of DIDO antennas and the antennas of each of the DIDO clients; using the link-quality metrics, to determine modulation coding schemes (MCSs) for different DIDO clients; and transmitting precoded data streams from each of the first plurality of DIDO antennas to each of the individual DIDO clients using the determined MCSs for those clients.