To start, look at the output of each:
>> [1024].pack("N")
=> "\000\000\004\000"
>> [1,0,2,4].pack("N")
=> "\000\000\000\001"
Note what the second is missing:
>> [1,0,2,4].pack("NNNN")
=> "\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\002\000\000\000\004"