Doubtful, not that hard to get the materials to make 160cp gear. Not just stats that make a difference (it's small) but glyphs+set bonuses+higher quality all add up to make a noticeable difference.
You can take any gear and change it's level and improvement by linking it in the chat window, copying the entry to a text editor, changing the level and/or improvement and pasting it back into the chat.
Once you get used to it, you can quickly check on all the stats of different gear without having to actually craft them or be at a specific crafting station.