Well said hawkeye! In short, a solid piece of metal will allow zero dirt to flow through it...or any air. No filter will allow 100% dirt and 100% air.
Between those two things is a sliding scale between dirt trapping and air flow. Paper filters trap more dirt than gauze type filters at the expense of also flowing less air.
Given enough underhood space, it's hard to beat a giant paper filter with tons of surface area. If you're working within the confines of the stock airbox and want more flow, there's not much you can do except switch to a gauze style filter of your choice and accept that it's going to pass more dirt.
Generally speaking, the worst option is to switch to a small gauze filter. Those that remove their airbox and install a small K&N type cone filter have gone two steps back.