no, it's not dumbed down at all. It has a slightly flippant style, but it's aimed at adults IMO. I've been reading it since it came out, and have a subscription to it (which is very expensive to do from Europe to US!)
I think it's better than any of the US music mags I've seen, which tend to be nothing more than an extension of the record companies
PR departments. It doesn't do any of the Rolling Stone non-music articles, but the interviews are usually always very well done.
Blender magazine in the US is trying to be like Maxim meets Q.