Bob,
I'm familiar with the "optical box" concept used on the new CL - I have a pair, and I've also used rifle-scopes which, necessarily, employ a generous eye-relief. In use, I find the new CL to provide a very easy view, perhaps lacking the absolute snap and sparkle of my ELs, but nonetheless very good for an instrument of that size and price. Personally, I haven't been troubled by chromatic aberration in the view through them - I wouldn't have purchased them if that had been the case.
My comment about ocular design wasn't so much about the "optical box" on the CLs, but more general, about the role the ocular can play in introducing its own aberrations, or potentially working with the design of the objective as a complete optical system. Unlike an astonomical telescope where it's practice to swap out eyepieces regularly, in a binocular the objectives and oculars can be designed to work together.
Michael