An apparatus includes a receiver buffer, a phase compensation circuit, a data sampler circuit, and an error sampler circuit. The receiver buffer may generate an equalized signal on a signal node using an input signal received via a channel. The phase compensation circuit may, in response to an initiation of a training mode, replace the equalized signal on the signal node with a reference signal. The data sampler circuit may sample, using a data clock signal, the reference signal to generate a plurality of data samples. The error sampler circuit may sample, using an error clock signal, the reference signal to generate a plurality of errors samples. The phase compensation circuit may also adjust a phase difference between the data clock signal and the error clock signal using at least some of the plurality of data samples and at least some of the plurality of error samples.