Hi jring, yarrellii - I use glasses with the SE and my roofs (which have enough eye relief), but all my older porros need to be used without. I always had this feeling that those porros were steadier when I could place the eyecups directly under my eyebrows compared to using the roofs with glasses, and now I've been able to use a porro (SE) with glasses, I'm sure of it. Bearing in mind that wobble/shake is probably the #1 reason for losing the faint "black star", a binocular that is difficult to hold steady is far from ideal. Fortunately when I'm doing most of my long distance spotting I can brace myself in some way, which makes a big difference on all binoculars but especially the SE. The SE shape is supposed (per Ingraham's writings) to allow better arm positioning and I've tried different hand holds but none are as steady as how I can hold a roof. I find no advantage to the round shoulders of the SE and in fact almost prefer the more usual squared-off style, which is easier to brace my hands against my face when following a high bird.
I've never tried the Viper HD 10x50 or any Vortex for that matter, but a well executed 10x50 is quite the weapon. I love (maybe too strong a word, but) the view through
my old Zeiss West 10x50 more than the SE because of its quite wonderful combination of field of view (130m - that exceeds the 10x42 SF and is only 3m short of the 10x42 NL!) with a 5mm exit pupil. Unlike my brother who has a very strong preference for 5mm exit pupil, I can use 4mm well enough, yet 5mm is undeniably better - making eye placement easier, and easier on the eye over long sessions. There is a sense of immersion, thanks to the way the eyecups cut out side light, that you just don't get when using glasses (although in some situations the spatial awareness you get using binoculars with glasses is very valuable). It even manages to be quite compact and although no lightweight (at about 1kg) is fairly tolerable in that respect. But... the 1950s era single coatings just don't perform as well when trying to follow distant targets. I would use that superb old masterpiece a lot more... if only I could be sure the birds would never fly more than say one mile away, and that I'd never need to come off the binoculars in a hurry. So the SE with its long eye relief and modern coatings may give less pure satisfaction to use, but it is ultimately a superior performer, and is used where that kind of performance is necessary. But a really good modern 10x50 would (and I really hate to sound like d***o here, but...) be better yet. The 10x50 SV I tried at Birdfair was one of the most impressive binoculars I've ever looked through. I can definitely see why you think the Viper HD 10x50 is more impressive than the 10x42 SE.
Colour rendition wise, I cannot find any fault with the SE (or in pretty much every other respect optically for that matter - I can't honestly say that the image feels in the slightest "muddy", as Tobias found with his 8x32 SE). I do need to note, though, that the appreciation and discernment of various shades of colour does not feature much in my birding, and my eyes may also be quite flexible/tolerant in this regard. I liked the Leicas I looked through but not to the extent that eg. Tobias or eronald from this site do.
I hasten to add that despite the various gripes I've outlined above, I have a lot of respect for the optical qualities of the "Austerity Alpha". It may not give the same kind of warm fuzzies as ssome of my other binoculars, but I'll probably end up spending a lot more time looking through it.
Somewhat ironically, the very first binocular I ever owned was a 1950s or 1960s era Japanese 10x42, single-coated, short eye relief. It was probably fairly reasonable in terms of sharpness, but I thought colour and detail at distance had a distinctly subdued look to them even then, and I needed to remove my glasses every single time I brought it to my eyes. I did eventually learn to do so quite quickly and deftly, but there was no shortage of frustration along the way, I can tell you... Now I find myself using a Japanese 10x42 porro again, it feels in some respects as though the wheel has turned full circle. Alas, I can never return to those days of enthusiasm and discovery, but I can at least be aided in my endeavours by a binocular superior to that first 10x42 in performance and capability to an extent I could not have conceived of back then.