Lee,
This has been discussed before, but the rolling ball effect is not an inevitable side-effect of field flatteners as such or of fields that are sharp to the edge, but is an inevitable side-effect of correcting rectilinear with the SV's it squeezes into an oval when it approaches the field edge (Henry has posted some photos that show this clearly) but in the Canon it remains a circle.
Kimmo
One does not need to put a circle or rulers near the edge of FOV of the 8x32 SV to notice the barrel distortion, as everything gets so obvisouly distorted the further you go away from the centre of field, then things really get squashed at the limit.
I hated even more the pincushion in the SLC 8x30 WB Neu though which to me was just unacceptable and made an overwise very good glass disappointing.
I believe that there is improvement to be made on the 8x32 SV regarding barrel distortion ON STATIC VIEW for starters, I personnally don't care about the rolling ball effect (I actually do little panning anyway) even if I'm aware of course that if you reduce one you'll reduce the other.
Now to get back to the SF, I did notice very slight blurring at the very edge, but if it is the trade-off to strongly reduce barrel distortion on super wide FOV glasses, I think it will be the best compromise.