The present inventions are related to systems and methods for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for use of a detector output by a data decoder. As an example, a data processing system is discussed that includes a data detector circuit operable to provide a first detector output and a second detector output, and a combining circuit operable to combine a first input derived from the first detector output with a second input derived from the second detector output to yield a combined detector output. The combined detector output includes a unified data set element generated by combining an element of the first input with a corresponding element of the second input.