I have a soundbar since before I bought this TV. It does sound better than the built-in speakers but it started acting up recently (volume going up or down every minute or so for no reason). I tried resetting it, re-flashing it, etc but nothing worked. It doesn't happen always either and I haven't figured out a pattern.

I decided to stop using it and started looking for better soundbars. Eventually I will get a 5.1 or 7.1 system but for the moment the TV speakers are more than acceptable for everything I do - movies, TV, games -- I don't use the TV for music. For now though, the speakers are sufficient. They don't sound too bad. To be fair, there's not much reason they should since there's enough space where they're mounted for decent sized cans.

Well, my TV is older, but I don’t use an external speaker.

But because of laziness I suppose, but also because I don’t want a sub-woofer type sound. Also don’t want a second remote.

I am sure those things can avoided, so I am open to advice on what to get.

A crappy $80 soundbar from Target will blow the built in speakers out of the water in every quality metric

I'd probably just go for some nice over-the-ear headphones though, unless you like tinkering with TV stuff

You could pick up a soundbar that works with hdmi arc. No sub, works with tv volume, and better sound than tv speakers.