An adaptive equalization system and operating method thereof are disclosed herein. According to an embodiment, an apparatus comprises a plurality of equalizers and control logic to selectively enable one or more equalizers of the plurality of equalizers and disable one or more other equalizers of the plurality of equalizers based, at least in part, on a quality of the channel over which the signal is received. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes first control logic to select an equalizer for a header of a packet and second control logic to select an equalizer for a data payload of the packet.