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Don't believe me?
https://antlionaudio.com/pages/faq >I’m getting a buzz, hum, or background noise when using the mic.
TL;DR This mod mic is horrible, and has had known bugs for years with no resolution on the problem. Antlion's "solution" is buy another product.
Also, if it's a "bug" with the mic then using a DAC or better audio interface device wouldn't fix the issue.
What makes you think there's something about the mic itself that would cause a "screeching noise every so often"? To me, that description matches feedback, which is an issue with the setup rather than the mic itself.
This means it is affected by what you plug it into. The noise you hear, or a buzz, or a hum, is being caused by something between the mic and the sound processor in the PC, most usually the PC its self, but pretty much anything generating an EMI field can cause problems (we have one confirmed report each, total, of a faulty light bulb and one specific model of a router have been found as causes!)
So why don't we make the ModMic a USB mic? Compatibility and quality. Counter intuitively, even though you are more prone to interference, in a perfect world Analog is better than USB because quality is lost in the transition between analog and digital (and a mic signal ALWAYS starts out as an analog signal, even in a USB mic). Additionally, many devices such as Cameras, Phones, Tablets, Mixers, and so on do not accept USB input, limiting how people could use it.
This doesn't mean we won't make a USB mic in the future, but for now we're sticking to analog 3.5mm to give flexibility to our users.
So why don't we just include the USB adapter? Not everyone needs it. We're just not fans of the idea of increasing the price of the ModMic when people can just buy what they need separately. Again, we may do so in the future, but for now our goal is to keep the cost lower by letting you get the adapters you need separately.
Now that isn't at all to say your complaint is invalid. I'd like to make sure you're aware that we do offer some stellar customer support you can access from the very page you link. A "Screech" is a pretty unusual description. Most EMI comes through as a slight background buzz. It very well may be that you have a faulty piece of hardware, either the ModMic its self or something very near the ModMic wire. We're here to help you ID the issue if you ever want to.
Hope that helps!
As for Z series Motherboards... well, audio hasn't changed in a very long time. It's not the newness of the board but how much money the board puts into its audio chipset when it comes to isolating it from interference. I honestly don't know of any motherboards off the top of my head that do a fantastic job of it. Audio tends to really get overlooked when everyone is focused on bus size and stuff. I'm sure there are good ones out there, but it isn't something we test here in the lab. As we grow as a company I'd sure like to start doing that though! Would be cool to be able to recommend specific boards for building an audio PC without a DAC/AMP combo... if such a thing exists.
Also, just to be sure, you're not having any speakers involved in your set up, are you?