Just to toss back a couple of comments, as the devil's advocate.
Most of what you say I will agree with, however..
When you are drawing an ambient air charge with atmospheric pressure, the small accordion-style ripples from flexible hoses are negligible, at best. Your statement does however hold true for systems which are over or under atmospheric pressure, require considerable velocity such that a reciprocating engine simply cannot demand, or when the charge is composed of non-gas elements such as liquids, or its composition is considerably light - such as hydrogen gas, or its composed of a heavy gas.
Oil-coated cotton filters (like K&N) have the best CFM rate of any air filter out there - until they get dirty. If you have an environment where the filter will not get get much blow-by, such under the hood with out direct access to out-side elements (warm-arm intake, air filter box, etc), then a K&N is going to be superior. If the filter is going to be directly exposed to the out-side, such as a /true/ cold-air intake, then it will only flow a little better than a paper filter. Why? Because that oil which is used to trap particles and dirt does a really good job! So good, in fact, that the dirt will cling there until it's cleaned. A paper filter will cost a lot less than a good K&N filter, so if it's going under the splash guard, keep this above mentioned statement in mind. You'll spend as much on a replacement paper filter as you will on K&N oil. But the filter oil will save you from throwing away yet-another 'disposable' item into the land fill. Filter oil and cleaner is the best eco-friendly option.
A foam filter, however.. is something to consider IMHO. They don't have the initial CFM of a gauze-oil filter, but they are considerably better than a paper filter. Foamy material has far more avenues for air to travel past, so when the filter does get dirty, there will be less over-all restrictions on absolute air flow. So it will work better after it's been installed and used for a while. I like to consider the entire life of an item before I install it into a car, not just how good it looks or works five minutes after it's been put on. I believe that most of these foam filters clean up pretty good with soap and water as well. You will need to use common sense though, don't use bleach to clean it, and let it dry out FULLY before installing it again. If it's soaked in water it will make your engine sputter a little, but rest assured, it isn't nearly enough to instanciate a hydrolock.
Just for fun I'll toss in a few comments. Cold Air Intake means drawing the air is from some place other than under the hood. The factory set-up does that. It pulls air from the fender.
The factory set-up (SVT and non SVT) is restrictive in the area that feeds the airbox. The SVT is especially so.
Drawing hot air cuts the power way back. Probably in the neighborhood of 205 to 30%. An open element intake drawing underhood air often suffers greatly in hot weather.
An oiled gauze or foam filter marginally allows more air to pass than a clean paper filter. It is only marginally better. The price you pay for that very slight benefit is less filtering. As to if the lower filter efficiency really amounts to a hill of beans is widely debated. As to if a drop-in oiled gauze filter really provides any better performance is also highly debated. My opinion is that it doesn't.
What to look for or to design to in an effective intake system is less restriction and retaining cold air input. The restriction can be from getting rid of the accordion tube wrinkles as well as smooth bends.
With all of that, don't forget to keep the intake protected from water ingestion when there is a lot of water on the road.