Hi,
Well, it depends on many things.
It depends on the time it takes for a HTTP request to be sent from your browser to your server, and come back with the answer, the time it takes to apply the filter on the products listing (so the amount of products but also the complexity of the filters you're using can play a role).
The javascript code indeed does have a small delay for some things.
For example, if you have a text input filter for the search with the auto submit activated, it will refresh the results while you're typing.
However, there is a delay so that it doesn't do the search each time to type a character and wait that you're not typing another one before launching the search.
Now I can't say much more as I don't know the details of your situation. If you could provide a link to the page and instructions to reproduce the situation where you feel it is slow, I could look into it to tell you where I think the delay comes from and if something can be done.