A data processing system includes an equalizer circuit operable to equalize digital data according to tap coefficients to yield equalized data, a tap coefficient adaptation circuit operable to adapt the tap coefficients based at least in part on a scaled error signal, a data detector operable to apply a data detection algorithm to the digital data to generate hard decisions and soft decisions, an error calculation circuit operable to calculate an error signal based on the equalized data and on the hard decisions, and a scaling circuit operable to scale the error signal based on the soft decisions to yield the scaled error signal.