The various implementations described herein include systems, methods and/or devices that may enhance the reliability with which data can be stored in and read from a memory. Some implementations include a method of compressing a sequence of read data values into a bit-tuple of a predefined length to enable soft information decoding systems that use less power and/or less memory. In some implementations, the bit-tuple of a predefined length is produced using M single-bit buffer locations, where M corresponds to the predefined length of the bit-tuple. Some implementations utilize a collection of characterization vectors that include soft information values associated with the possible permutations of the bit-tuples. In turn, a sequence of bit-tuples is converted into a sequence of soft information values by retrieving a particular characterization vector, and selecting a respective soft information value from that characterization vector for each bit-tuple in the sequence.