I'm certainly noticing something different with this release – a significant speedup! Which is strange, really, as there's nothing in the changelogs suggesting there are any deliberate optimizations this time.
The positive change in responsiveness of my 9a isn't due to the usual post-reboot effect, as the phone is no longer in that state. Even now, several hours of uptime (and use) in, the effect persists.
I suppose any of the listed changes, from the removal of downstream fixes for the lock screen, to kernel updates, could have had this additional benefit.
Whatever it is, it's two thumbs up from me!