Techniques for accommodating an incoming signal at a front-end receiver via AC-coupling or DC-coupling are described herein. In one aspect, a front-end receiver comprises a differential input with a first data line and a second data line for receiving an incoming signal. The front-end receiver also comprises an AC-coupled switch coupled to the differential input, wherein the AC-coupled switch is configured to both perform high-pass filtering on the incoming signal and offset the filtered incoming signal with a DC-offset voltage if an AC-coupling mode of the receiver is enabled. The front-end receiver further comprises a DC-coupled switch coupled to the differential input, wherein the DC-coupled switch is configured to shift a common-mode voltage of the incoming signal if a DC-coupling mode of the receiver is enabled.