In the end, either would be more than good enough for me. I had done some reading though and found that there were some design flaws with the o ring in the Chris King due to design patents held by Cane Creek for the threadless headset which they invented. Because of the design workarounds Chris King was forced to use, the o-ring between the top plate and the steerer tube is insufficient for keeping the top plate centered which leads to fretting on the steerer tube and presumably the top plate.

All other things being equal, I think I'd rather go with the Cane Creek unless there is something I'm missing. The quality seems to be every bit as good as the King and it has a 110 year warranty if something does go wrong.

As for any 1 1/8 external threadless headset, I'm assuming this one will do fine? It's what I was originally going to buy until I started doubting whether it was the right fit. http://www.canecreek.com/component-h....EC34#110.EC34