PERF: array_equivalent
xref #35249, this gives about a 3x speedup in the asv reported there

cc @jorisvandenbossche EA.equals doesn't support a strict_nan arg, is there anything we need to do to account for that here?
> EA.equals doesn't support a strict_nan arg, is there anything we need to do to account for that here?

Indeed, EA.equals doesn't support that (and not sure it should). But see also my inline comment: is it actually needed to handle EAs here? maybe merge #35231 first since that PR adds additional tests? > maybe merge #35231 first since that PR adds additional tests?

good idea