That's right. It smooths out air flow, which leads to more flow. Similar to those doohickeys you stick in the air cleaner.....stub stack that's it. I couldn't think of the name. But you don't need those with a "good" air cleaner, like most of the better Moroso ones, for example, as they are already shaped like that.
But yes, and I've been argued with that before. The offset blades were originally brought about to break up the air flow and smooth it out like you said......much the same as the staggered and different size cooling blades on some alternators. Same principle. The noise reduction was a side benefit they actually lucked up on. lol
