diff -r 6049c954a703 Lib/test/audiotests.py
--- a/Lib/test/audiotests.py	Sun Nov 17 23:39:13 2013 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/audiotests.py	Mon Nov 18 01:08:10 2013 +0200
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 import sys
 
 def byteswap2(data):
-    a = array.array('h', data)
+    a = array.array('h')
+    a.frombytes(data)
     a.byteswap()
     return a.tobytes()
 
@@ -17,7 +18,8 @@
     return bytes(ba)
 
 def byteswap4(data):
-    a = array.array('i', data)
+    a = array.array('i')
+    a.frombytes(data)
     a.byteswap()
     return a.tobytes()
 
diff -r 6049c954a703 Lib/wave.py
--- a/Lib/wave.py	Sun Nov 17 23:39:13 2013 +0200
+++ b/Lib/wave.py	Mon Nov 18 01:08:10 2013 +0200
@@ -443,7 +443,9 @@
             data = self._convert(data)
         if self._sampwidth in (2, 4) and sys.byteorder == 'big':
             import array
-            data = array.array(_array_fmts[self._sampwidth], data)
+            a = array.array(_array_fmts[self._sampwidth])
+            a.frombytes(data)
+            data = a
             assert data.itemsize == self._sampwidth
             data.byteswap()
             data.tofile(self._file)