A method and device for compensating for undesirable signal characteristics such as baseline wander that includes a linear equalization filter responsive to receive an input, a combiner responsive to an output of the linear equalization filter, and a decision feedback equalization filter responsive to an output of the combiner, where the combiner is further responsive to an output of the decision feedback equalizer. Additionally, an error feedback circuit is responsive to the output of the combiner, and the combiner is further responsive to an output of the error feedback circuit to form a compensated signal having reduced distortion relative to the distorted signal.