The present disclosure provides methods and apparatus for demodulating a signal transmitted via a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication channel. In one embodiment, a method of demodulating a signal transmitted via a MIMO communication channel includes receiving a data symbol vector including multiple data symbols that are received at substantially the same time. The received data symbol vector corresponds to a transmitted data symbol vector. The method further includes generating multiple candidate vectors for the transmitted data symbol vector. The multiple candidate vectors are less than all possible vectors for the transmitted data symbol vector. The method further includes selecting one candidate vector from the multiple candidate vectors using a maximum-likelihood (ML) technique.