A method for communication includes receiving a signal, which carries data bits and is distorted by multiple impairments including one or more frequency offsets and one or more In-phase/Quadrature (I/Q) imbalances. A corrected signal is produced by applying to the received signal a sequence of corrections to compensate for the impairments. The sequence includes a first and a third correction of one correction type and a second correction of another correction type intervening between the first and third corrections in the sequence, the correction types consisting of frequency offset corrections and I/Q imbalance corrections. The data bits are extracted from the corrected signal.