diff --git a/values.go b/values.go
index 0dc5b641..1f0647b5 100644
--- a/values.go
+++ b/values.go
@@ -1102,16 +1102,17 @@ func encodeTimestamp(w *WriteBuf, value interface{}) error {
 
 func decode1dArrayHeader(vr *ValueReader) (length int32, err error) {
 	numDims := vr.ReadInt32()
-	if numDims == 0 {
-		return 0, nil
-	}
-	if numDims != 1 {
+	if numDims > 1 {
 		return 0, ProtocolError(fmt.Sprintf("Expected array to have 0 or 1 dimension, but it had %v", numDims))
 	}
 
 	vr.ReadInt32() // 0 if no nulls / 1 if there is one or more nulls -- but we don't care
 	vr.ReadInt32() // element oid
 
+	if numDims == 0 {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+
 	length = vr.ReadInt32()
 
 	idxFirstElem := vr.ReadInt32()