Ignorance and superstitious is part of the problem, applicability of op-amps to the intended uses discusses herein at these audio forums is the other part of the problem (the bigger one).
EQ Magazine just ran a little ditty about the "Pre-Amps in Paradise" conference.... thats a convention where some of the worlds best preamp designers and recording engineers meet to discuss the design of preamps and to talk a little bit about the music and recording business.... anyway.... building preamps always has been part science and part art.... or at least there exists a large element in this world who seem to think that electronics is an art form (although as an electrical engineer, I kind of laugh at these people... because its usually the people with non-technical backgrounds [record produces, musicians, some recording engineers] who seem to regard the laws of physics as an "art form" (a pure absurdity).
You find all kinds of superstitious talk about tubes versus transistors, transformerless designs versus transformer designs, as well as talk about whether integrated circuits should be used in pre-amps...
IC's, are not "bad". It's just that the particular specifications for integrated circuits make them not always useful for designing amplifiers which need to handle high powered signals.
The fact of the matter is that IC's can handle TREMENDOUS amounts of gain (110 - 120dB) which is actually more gain than any of the best pre-amps of the market which usually only offer 20 - 65 dB of gain..... Rather, the problem with IC's is not their gain capabilities.... but they just can't handle the input power.
Discrete circuity certainly, by no means offers less distortion or noisee than IC's..... Quite the contrary!!!!!
Some of the best IC preamplifiers will produce noise floors FAR FAR less than the worlds best audio preamps. Their noise floor at > 80 - 100dB of gain may [much] less than a discrete component preamp operating at only 30 - 70 dB of gain.
Some of the lowest distortion and lowest noise circuits in the entire world are in "chip" form, and are used in sophisticated electronics (military, communications, scientific instrumentation, and otherwise) which require ULTRA-low noise floors or ultra-low distortion levels for sensing applications. We're talking noise floor levels which absolutely, and totally blow away the $3,500 'super-duper' preamps that you see from manufactureres like Millenium or Avalon or Aphex or Robert Massenburg Labs, etc...