diff --git a/docarray/array/doc_list/doc_list.py b/docarray/array/doc_list/doc_list.py
index 29a617e2c5f..951256ef2ce 100644
--- a/docarray/array/doc_list/doc_list.py
+++ b/docarray/array/doc_list/doc_list.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     Type,
     TypeVar,
     Union,
+    cast,
     overload,
 )
 
@@ -267,8 +268,18 @@ def validate(
     ):
         from docarray.array.doc_vec.doc_vec import DocVec
 
-        if isinstance(value, (cls, DocVec)):
+        if isinstance(value, cls):
             return value
+        elif isinstance(value, DocVec):
+            if (
+                issubclass(value.doc_type, cls.doc_type)
+                or value.doc_type == cls.doc_type
+            ):
+                return cast(T, value.to_doc_list())
+            else:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f'DocList[value.doc_type] is not compatible with {cls}'
+                )
         elif isinstance(value, cls):
             return cls(value)
         elif isinstance(value, Iterable):
diff --git a/docarray/array/doc_vec/doc_vec.py b/docarray/array/doc_vec/doc_vec.py
index e27f6882fe9..52009d83175 100644
--- a/docarray/array/doc_vec/doc_vec.py
+++ b/docarray/array/doc_vec/doc_vec.py
@@ -278,6 +278,14 @@ def validate(
     ) -> T:
         if isinstance(value, cls):
             return value
+        elif isinstance(value, DocList):
+            if (
+                issubclass(value.doc_type, cls.doc_type)
+                or value.doc_type == cls.doc_type
+            ):
+                return cast(T, value.to_doc_vec())
+            else:
+                raise ValueError(f'DocVec[value.doc_type] is not compatible with {cls}')
         elif isinstance(value, DocList.__class_getitem__(cls.doc_type)):
             return cast(T, value.to_doc_vec())
         elif isinstance(value, Sequence):
diff --git a/tests/units/array/stack/test_array_stacked.py b/tests/units/array/stack/test_array_stacked.py
index 385fd9f8a8a..cf78ddd7b41 100644
--- a/tests/units/array/stack/test_array_stacked.py
+++ b/tests/units/array/stack/test_array_stacked.py
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ def test_to_device():
 
 def test_to_device_with_nested_da():
     class Video(BaseDoc):
-        images: DocList[ImageDoc]
+        images: DocVec[ImageDoc]
 
     da_image = DocVec[ImageDoc](
         [ImageDoc(tensor=torch.zeros(3, 5))], tensor_type=TorchTensor