1. A method comprising: receiving, at an input scaler, a soft-decoding input from an equalizer, the soft-decoding input being a least-likelihood ratio and having a first bit-width; scaling, via the input scaler, the soft-decoding input based on a value of the soft-decoding input that indicates a probability of an encoded bit or symbol having a certain value, the scaled soft-decoding input having a second bit-width that is equal to or less than the first bit-width; and transmitting, from the input scaler, the scaled soft-decoding input to a hardware-based soft-decoder effective to enable the hardware-based soft-decoder to decode an encoded bit associated with the scaled soft-decoding input.