Here is a more formal definition of my last proposal,

v and w are equal iff
v.shape() == w.shape() and
  ((v.format == w.format and v.tobytes() == w.tobytes()) or
   v.tolist() == w.tolist())
if tolist raises an exception for unsupported codes, they are not equal

As usual, the implementation can deviate from the spec as long as it behaves "as-if" it would use this exact algorithm (assuming unlimited memory).