1. A Viterbi detector for converting a digital binary stream representing a partial response signal into a digital binary output representative thereof, wherein said digital binary stream comprises a reproduction of data recorded in a medium, the Viterbi detector comprising: a branch metric unit (“BMU”) operative to receive said digital binary stream and compute at least one branch metric value and at least one first state metric value, said BMU being further operative to non-adaptively compensate for noise dependent on said data as recorded in said medium; wherein the BMU further includes: a plurality of branch metric sets, each of said plurality of branch metric sets comprising a plurality of branch metrics; and a plurality of noise predictive filters, each of said plurality of noise predictive filters coupled with one of said branch metric sets, and wherein each of said plurality of noise predictive filters comprises a finite impulse response (“FIR”) filter; an add compare select unit (“ACSU”) coupled with said BMU and operative to receive said at least one branch metric value and said at least one first state metric value and generate at least one second state metric value; and a survivor memory unit coupled with said ACSU and operative to select one of said at least one second state metric value and generate said digital binary output therefrom.