>>3456505background gradient is definitely better
next time when you run this setup, try adding another flash thats set two stops underexposed to act as fill. (keep it close to you so it's almost on-axis, but diffuse the hell out of it). you still get a good amount of contrast, but you get quite a bit more detail out of the shadow side
(pic is the setup i'm typically using now. it's great for 3/4 length studio portraits. it's my go-to setup)