A receiver for determining sample phase comprises a sync detector to output a sample phase; an interpolator communicatively coupled to the sync detector and to generate a plurality of interpolated phases, wherein each of the interpolated phase and phases within the phase set corresponds to a respective syncword; a calculator communicatively coupled to the interpolator to calculate an error vector magnitude (EVM) of syncword corresponding respectively to each of the interpolated phase and to each of the phase within a phase set, and determine the minimum EVM among EVMs for the syncword corresponding to each of the interpolated phase and the EVM of syncword corresponding to each of the phase within the phase set; and an output unit communicatively coupled to the calculator and configured to sample and output payload signals at the phase corresponding to the minimum EVM.