No sure if this is a whole lot faster, but certainly is more fun. Also, you can easily do a quick visual to see if there are any weaklings in the batch. Obviously, you need a current limiting resistor and a power supply which can exceed the combined voltage drop of the series-connected LEDs (in my case a variable bench supply that goes to 30 Volts - the LEDs light up at around 1.8 Volts and I did 16 at a time).
Zero defects in the batch - PiDP10 serial number 053.
Whit