diff --git a/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py b/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
index ea51f86d7..b004a6c54 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_io_hdf5_h5tools.py
@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@ def test_write_dataset_list_compound_datatype(self):
                 )
         self.io.write_dataset(self.f, dset_builder)
         dset = self.f['test_dataset']
-        self.assertTrue(np.all(dset[:] == a))
+        for field in a.dtype.names:
+            self.assertTrue(np.all(dset[field][:] == a[field]))
 
     def test_write_dataset_list_compress_gzip(self):
         a = H5DataIO(np.arange(30).reshape(5, 2, 3),