Filter Panel should update fairly quickly though it will depend on the configuration. (do keep configuration differences in mind when comparing with other components).
Filter gives shorter delay time than Album list, that's right.
It's not just the update speed. The difference feels like you're updating panels in the same thread that repaints UI, whereas DUI components do it in a separate one. And much quicker, too. The configurations are as close as they can be - "directory structure" for Album lists and Genre/Album Artist;Artist/Album for Filter with the direct analog of three predefined columns in Facets, although it doesn't seem to matter much.
Filter Panel (Genre) initialised in: 1.2270389 seconds
Filter Panel (Artist) initialised in: 0.6411832 seconds
Filter Panel (Album) initialised in: 0.7210495 seconds
tree generated in : 0:01.159994
53456 tracks
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Also, CUI 0.3.6.7 and ALP 0.3.3. And in case that matters, I'm using 64-bit version of the OS.
Yep, no freeze at all without them.