diff --git a/dask_cuda/device_host_file.py b/dask_cuda/device_host_file.py
index 5f0944722..ccd55583a 100644
--- a/dask_cuda/device_host_file.py
+++ b/dask_cuda/device_host_file.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from distributed.utils import nbytes
 from distributed.worker import weight
 
-import numpy
 from zict import Buffer, File, Func
 from zict.common import ZictBase
 
@@ -31,37 +30,35 @@ class DeviceSerialized:
         that are in host memory
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, header, parts):
+    def __init__(self, header, frames):
         self.header = header
-        self.parts = parts
+        self.frames = frames
 
     def __sizeof__(self):
-        return sum(map(nbytes, self.parts))
+        return sum(map(nbytes, self.frames))
 
 
 @dask_serialize.register(DeviceSerialized)
 def device_serialize(obj):
-    headers, frames = serialize(obj.parts)
-    header = {"sub-headers": headers, "main-header": obj.header}
+    header = {"obj-header": dict(obj.header)}
+    frames = list(obj.frames)
     return header, frames
 
 
 @dask_deserialize.register(DeviceSerialized)
 def device_deserialize(header, frames):
-    parts = deserialize(header["sub-headers"], frames)
-    return DeviceSerialized(header["main-header"], parts)
+    return DeviceSerialized(header["obj-header"], frames)
 
 
 @nvtx_annotate("SPILL_D2H", color="red", domain="dask_cuda")
 def device_to_host(obj: object) -> DeviceSerialized:
     header, frames = serialize(obj, serializers=["dask", "pickle"])
-    frames = [numpy.asarray(f) for f in frames]
     return DeviceSerialized(header, frames)
 
 
 @nvtx_annotate("SPILL_H2D", color="green", domain="dask_cuda")
 def host_to_device(s: DeviceSerialized) -> object:
-    return deserialize(s.header, s.parts)
+    return deserialize(s.header, s.frames)
 
 
 class DeviceHostFile(ZictBase):