In case this is of interest to anyone: I just had great success using this logic level translator:
https://www.tindie.com/products/onehorse/lsf0108-logic-level-translator/
which is based on this TI chip:
http://www.ti.com/general/docs/lit/getliterature.tsp?genericPartNumber=lsf0108&fileType=pdf
To boost my clock and data lines from 3.3v -> battery voltage (no I don’t yet have my 10A buck booster). However, driving some APA102c’s from just a 1S LiPo battery, I can double the data rate and get my ~700 LEDs to update in 2.5ms instead of ~4.6ms.
https://www.tindie.com/products/onehorse/lsf0108-logic-level-translator