[hwpythonner]

Great question!

You're right that it can definitely be faster — there's real room for optimization.

When I have time, I may write a blog post that will explain where the cycles go, why it's different from raw assembler toggling, and how it could be improved.

Also, just to keep things in perspective — don't forget to compare apples to apples: On a Pyboard running MicroPython, a simple GPIO roundtrip takes about 14 microseconds. PyXL is already achieving 480 nanoseconds, so it’s a very different baseline.

Thanks for raising it — it's a very good point.