diff --git a/dvc/stage.py b/dvc/stage.py
index 509d49a62..e93d5ab92 100644
--- a/dvc/stage.py
+++ b/dvc/stage.py
@@ -277,8 +277,9 @@ class Stage(object):
         return False
 
     def changed(self):
-        ret = any(
-            [self._changed_deps(), self._changed_outs(), self._changed_md5()]
+        # Short-circuit order: stage md5 is fast, deps are expected to change
+        ret = (
+            self._changed_md5() or self._changed_deps() or self._changed_outs()
         )
 
         if ret:
@@ -656,9 +657,9 @@ class Stage(object):
 
         d = self.dumpd()
 
-        # NOTE: removing md5 manually in order to not affect md5s in deps/outs
-        if self.PARAM_MD5 in d.keys():
-            del d[self.PARAM_MD5]
+        # Remove md5 and meta, these should not affect stage md5
+        d.pop(self.PARAM_MD5, None)
+        d.pop(self.PARAM_META, None)
 
         # Ignore the wdir default value. In this case DVC-file w/o
         # wdir has the same md5 as a file with the default value specified.
diff --git a/dvc/utils/__init__.py b/dvc/utils/__init__.py
index ed04b8ace..b7c98211f 100644
--- a/dvc/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/dvc/utils/__init__.py
@@ -88,32 +88,28 @@ def bytes_md5(byts):
     return hasher.hexdigest()
 
 
-def dict_filter(d, exclude=[]):
+def dict_filter(d, exclude=()):
     """
     Exclude specified keys from a nested dict
     """
 
+    def fix_key(k):
+        return str(k) if isinstance(k, builtin_str) else k
+
     if isinstance(d, list):
-        ret = []
-        for e in d:
-            ret.append(dict_filter(e, exclude))
-        return ret
+        return [dict_filter(e, exclude) for e in d]
+
     elif isinstance(d, dict):
-        ret = {}
-        for k, v in d.items():
-            if isinstance(k, builtin_str):
-                k = str(k)
+        items = ((fix_key(k), v) for k, v in d.items())
+        return {
+            k: dict_filter(v, exclude) for k, v in items if k not in exclude
+        }
 
-            assert isinstance(k, str)
-            if k in exclude:
-                continue
-            ret[k] = dict_filter(v, exclude)
-        return ret
-
-    return d
+    else:
+        return d
 
 
-def dict_md5(d, exclude=[]):
+def dict_md5(d, exclude=()):
     filtered = dict_filter(d, exclude)
     byts = json.dumps(filtered, sort_keys=True).encode("utf-8")
     return bytes_md5(byts)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_stage.py b/tests/unit/test_stage.py
index c39a7f567..a477059a8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_stage.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_stage.py
@@ -7,51 +7,43 @@ import pytest
 from unittest import TestCase
 
 
-class TestStageChecksum(TestCase):
-    def test(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {"md5": "123456", "cmd": "mycmd", "outs": outs, "deps": deps}
+TEST_STAGE_DICT = {
+    "md5": "123456",
+    "cmd": "mycmd",
+    "outs": [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}],
+    "deps": [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}],
+}
 
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
-            )
 
-    def test_wdir_default_ignored(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {
-            "md5": "123456",
-            "cmd": "mycmd",
-            "outs": outs,
-            "deps": deps,
-            "wdir": ".",
-        }
+def test_stage_checksum():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
 
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
-            )
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=TEST_STAGE_DICT):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
 
-    def test_wdir_non_default_is_not_ignored(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {
-            "md5": "123456",
-            "cmd": "mycmd",
-            "outs": outs,
-            "deps": deps,
-            "wdir": "..",
-        }
 
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "2ceba15e87f6848aa756502c1e6d24e9"
-            )
+def test_wdir_default_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, wdir=".")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
+
+
+def test_wdir_non_default_is_not_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, wdir="..")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "2ceba15e87f6848aa756502c1e6d24e9"
+
+
+def test_meta_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, meta={"author": "Suor"})
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
 
 
 class TestPathConversion(TestCase):