Thanks for that. I've been using the SE libraries for many years but just recently got the Synchronized versions. I've been focusing heavily on strings thus far, and after figuring out how to disable the IR's to get them to sound more like the original SE versions, have found the updated programming in the Synchronized versions to be much more responsive and playable out of the box. So in that regard they've definitely achieved their purpose. But as you suggested, I will go through the wind and brass presets and compare the two at some point. I'm well stocked with high end dymanic, EQ and effects plugins, so I'm not concerned with needing to add processing. The VSL IR's are nice, but I usually prefer my other options anyway.
I didn't expect Smart Orchestra to be able to compete with the SE stuff, but since Epic Orchestra is made up of kind of a mish mash of instruments, I wondered if any of it might be different enough from and high quality enough to be able to complement the SE libraries. Guess I can't get out of having to figure that out myself. 
p.s. All my VIP SE libraries include the velocity crossfade option, so I'm not sure what you're referring to with regard to a missing crossfade feature.