I specifically avoided talking about levush, because there are more important, less superficial, differences.
I agree, and stated, that they have come closer to each other, but they’re still further apart than you intimate.
A chassidishe rov once told me that learning R’ Chaim is bittul Torah because it’s not halachah l’maaseh (both aspects are untrue – it’s not bittul Torah regardless, and learning how to think is nogeia to paskening halachah l’maaseh).
Also, as an aside, not having peyos was a bow to modernity, not an act mesorah. The Vilna Gaon had peyos.